They may not have had the best Emmy nominations morning, but several critical darlings found plenty of makeup love on Thursday afternoon with the annual announcement of the Television Critics Association Awards nominations.
Having a big showing, notably, was Peacock’s Girls5eva, which the Emmys totally ignored aside from a writing nomination, and despite a heavy Emmy campaign from the network. Unlike the Television Academy, the TCA recognized it with best-comedy and comedy-performance (Renée Elise Goldsberry) nominations. And while Mythic Quest’s Emmy noms were restricted to below-the-line categories, it too popped up in both of those TCA fields, the latter marking a significant moment for breakout star Charlotte Nicdao. Of course, plenty of TV Academy comedy favorites repeated with TCA, too, including The Flight Attendant and its star Kaley Cuoco, Hacks and its star Jean Smart, and Ted Lasso and its stars Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham. (The TCAs do not separate lead and supporting performances, and they include one genderless performance category per genre, with eight nominees in each, under the name “individual achievement.”)
Over in drama, the story was similar: Shows on their way out including Pose and the canceled Lovecraft Country kept the good news rolling, alongside overall awards front-runners The Crown and The Mandalorian. There was room for some Emmy-snubbed under-the-radar players as well: Apple TV+’s For All Mankind and Starz’s P-Valley in best drama, The Good Lord Bird’s Ethan Hawke and The Underground Railroad’s Thuso Mbedu in performance. (The TCAs feature a separate limited-series-program category, but dramatic limited performances are grouped with comedy or drama.)
All five of the Emmys’ nominated limited series were also featured here, with The Good Lord Bird, It’s a Sin, and Bo Burnham’s Inside (categorized as a special) joining the fun. (The Emmys’ best-actress duel of Kate Winslet and Anya Taylor-Joy should similarly play out here; making room for TV’s most competitive arena, the drama-performance category consists mostly of limited-series stars.) Notably, Small Axe was nowhere to be found. The difficult-to-categorize Amazon anthology from Steve McQueen was considered a big Emmy snub earlier this week, particularly for star John Boyega, but its absence here is likely explained by the fact that it had already found love with major film critics groups as part of last year’s Oscar season.
Beyond scripted programming, the variety category ably reflected the genre’s exciting evolution, which Emmy voters have mostly ignored; The Amber Ruffin Show, Desus & Mero, and Ziwe were among those to make the cut here over Emmy mainstays like Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Emmy front-runner Ted Lasso led all programs with five TCA nominations, having also been cited for best new program and program of the year, the latter of which recognizes high-quality programs of the most cultural import. (Big hits Bridgerton and The Queen’s Gambit ranked there beside critics’ favorites like The Underground Railroad and I May Destroy You.) Oh, and Netflix can celebrate a little: After losing the nominations count at the Emmys by just one this week, it has now won the TCA count by, yes, a single nomination. Small losses, small victories.
Check out the full list of nominees here.
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